


Six Bullets

by Itio



Series: The Light of True Redemption [1]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Diego is Desert Bluffs Carlos, Guns, Hallucinations, M/M, Suicide, mild body and eye horror, post 49B
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 21:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1913658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itio/pseuds/Itio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Episode 49B.<br/>StrexCorp has been bought out by Angels, Kevin is gone. What do you do when you lose your reason to smile?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Six Bullets

"Listeners! Steve Carlsberg just threw Kevin through the oak door, the heavy door shut immediately and the blinding light left the radio station."  
That broke him. "K-Kevin!" He wailed, his Strex Smile breaking into an open frown. He held his greying temples with fists, knuckles turning white as he screamed for the loss of his lover.  
It wasn't irrational. Those strange doors closed into another existence. That... Monster thew his sweet love into another plane, alone and probably lost beyond reason.  
A knock on the door before it opened, "Sir? Are y-" The ripping sound of a gunshot filled the small study, blood and brains splattering on the hardwood floor as the body hit the floor.  
It was instinct. He was feeling threatened. He was feeling vulnerable. After the ringing in his ears stopped, he could hear his own wailing once more, "K-Kevin..." He whispered.  
Later, after having cried himself to sleep, he awoke to a clean entry way and a cup of black coffee beside a plate of cookies on his desk. He rubbed his tired, puffy eyes and took a long gulp of the coffee. It was hot, burning his throat all the way around. At least that was proof he was still alive.  
He looked at the cookies. He didn't want to eat them, as delicious they looked. He simply poked them instead as he held the steaming coffee cup in one hand. The warmth was comforting at least in his cold existence.  
He lost his sunshine, his great warmth, his reason to keep smiling. He gripped his gun with his other hand like a safety net as if he were to let go, he would slip away too.

It felt like an eternity. The radio was off, silence filled the small study. He wasn't given any work, after all, his company was bought by some very real Nightvale Angel. All he had was a shining metal gun, six bullets in the barrel, and his thoughts. One of which was driving him to madness, another two to end it all. Though, he shook that thought out of his mind.  
He imagined the sun, bright and shining and Kevin right there, grinning his overly sharp teeth at him as he laughed and basked in the glorious heat. Though, even the light from window burned his retinas and skin.  
He imagined their bed, Kevin underneath him, hearing crying to the smiling god about how good his love felt. Though, the bed was a hazard to his mental health, so he didn't leave the study.  
He imagined that cheery voice coming over the radio waves and filling his body with a warmth only Kevin could give. The radio voice was a girl now that spouted off the news like a machine, so he never touched the dial.  
It felt like an eternity, but it had only been a week. He would somehow fall asleep, only to wake up in the morning with fresh, hot, dark roast, black coffee and some form of pastry for breakfast. That was the only meal his empl- the other strex employees dared to bring him. He had shot too many over the week for them to figure out he wanted to be alone.

He stayed huddled up in his study. The only time he even left his chair was to go to the bathroom, pace for hours and leave ruts in the hard wood, or sleep on the leather couch.  
Other times, he was in his office chair in front of the wooden desk. He would sketch small figures or just abstract lines to relax, polish his gun, or distract himself by finding compound daily interest accumulated over three years, one day at a time. He would do anything to keep his screams or tears from ripping out of him.  
He had five bullets left. A concerned employee walked in with lunch. That much was fine, but she started asking him questions and his answer was a quick death and a blown off face. At least lunch tasted decent, or at least he hoped it did, because he didn't know what it tasted like. He guessed the coffee scalded his tongue.  
He looked around his room. He swore there was more color in here, but all he noticed were the grey walls, the black leather seating, the greying desk and the shadow of his window on the floor. Where was that strexCorp caution yellow he knew was somewhere.  
"Silly, you just have to look harder."  
Diego's head snapped up and to the front of the desk so fast that his neck cracked and his vision spun.  
There he was, bright and shining and perfect. He was glowing a shade of sun yellow and his grin was whiter than he could imagine possible. Against the brightness was that familiar void of his eyes. "K-Kevin..."  
"Gee, it looks like you've seen a ghost!" The smiling host grinned only wider, stretching through his cheeks.  
Diego didn't care. He stood from his chair and walked over to Kevin. "K-Kevin, you're ali-"  
The brightness started to fade, the bright yellows melting into dark greys and blacks. The void of his eyes only became darker and wider as the toothy smile split to his ears, showing more teeth than should he humanly possible in a single mouth.  
Diego let out a scream and the... The creature spoke in a voice so unlike his love's. "What is it friend?"  
For the first time that week, Diego didn't try to kill the employees that ran in to see what had happened.

Four bullets. He shot another illusion of Kevin before it could even get a word out. It left a nasty hole in his dark grey wall, but that was fixed before the next morning. How they manage to walk in and bring food, coffee and clean up the messes without knowing is beyond what he could think about right now.  
Besides the small exchanges of hellos when an employee would bring dinner, he hadn't spoken to anyone in over a month. Every time someone asked anything from a 'how was your day' to a 'how's the food,' he put the gun to their heads. Though, he was losing his will to shoot. Why waste another bullet when they would just freeze, pass out or run away anyway? That person would never ask again.

Three bullets and another hole in the wall. Another Kevin that simply taunted him with smiles before wisping away as a bullet went though the illusion's head.  
It's been almost two months of silence, two meals a day and small hellos to the people that bring his dinner. His care takers never said more than a hello and a goodbye. They were all so nervous, but nice. He stopped eating though when he realized Kevin was never coming back and he would have to keep shooting holes in his walls to rid of the illusions.  
He had a beard now, not that he cared. It was bushy, unprofessional, and awkward on his face. The beard covered his chin, formed a mustache, and went back into his side burns. His hair had grown out to his chin and become disheveled and messy, greasy and thick with oils. He didn't even question the dry shampoo he was given with breakfast when he woke from his sleep in the morning.

The hall outside his study was getting a little rowdy. Something about the smiling god. He didn't believe anymore in that thing. Though, the door opened and he noticed a man standing there.  
He was covered in sand. His hair was sun bleached, skin colored with burns and tans, and his eyes were the color of gold.  
"D-Diego!" The confused smile broke out into a wide, ear-to-ear grin. The voice was unmistakable. It was another damned illusion. Why did it look so different though? Did he finally forget what Kevin looked like?  
He pulled the trigger and shot the figure in the chest. It didn't wisp away though, instead, a flower of blood bloomed from the wound and the body fell to the floor, gasping and screaming out breathy whimpers before it finally stopped seconds later. One bullet left.  
He bolted up and ran to the body only a few feet from him. Tears rolled down his cheeks in large drops. His hand gripped the gun tightly as employees ran in. The other hand cupped the cooling, paling cheek of the lifeless body.  
He stared at the body as a crowd formed outside the door. There were mumbles and whimpers at the loss of the finally returned host. There was also some blaming of who didn't tell Diego before this happened.  
"Kevin... D-Don't worry. We'll still be together." He stroked his cheek before leaning down and kissing blood stained lips. He sat up before there was another rip of air with another shot.  
The empty gun laid beside him and his radio lover.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Diego is a character of the beautiful Sally at http://videntefernandez.tumblr.com/  
> For Kevin's Side of the Story, read Sand and Perfection.


End file.
